A young girl endangers herself by naively bragging about false sexual experiences.

On the outskirts of Brooklyn, a fourteen-year-old’s sexual quest takes a dangerous turn when she pursues an older guy and tests the boundaries between obsession and love.

During an uneventful summer on the outskirts of Brooklyn, Lila, a lonely fourteen-year-old from Gravesend, turns her attentions to Sammy, an older thug she sees at Rockaway beach. Wanting something to brag about, she weaves a story about him and becomes fixated on seeing it realized.
When her attempts fail, she propels the lie even further, claiming they’ve had sex. During her sexual quest, Lila turns from predator to prey. It Felt Like Love captures the confusing emotions and developing identity of an adolescent girl that explores what could euphemistically be called love.

ELIZA HITTMAN (WRITER / DIRECTOR) is an award-winning filmmaker,
born and based in New York City. Her films have screened
at the Oberhausen Kurzfilmtage, the BFI, REDCAT, BAMcinemaFEST,
and the Sundance Film Festival. Her short film Forever's
Gonna Start Tonight was listed on Indiewire Magazine's list of "the
Best of the Best" at Sundance in 2011. It Felt Like Love is her first
feature film.

GINA PIERSANTI (LILA) is a 14-year-old freshman at
Manhattan’s Grace Church School and lives in Jersey City.
She currently studies dance at the Joffrey Ballet. She has also
completed more than a dozen short films with NYC universities
including Columbia, NYU and SVA. Her other passions
include surfing, travel and music. This is her first feature film.

GIOVANNA SALIMENI (CHIARA) is a sophomore at the
Professional Performing Arts School, where she dances with
Alvin Ailey. She is from the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of
Brooklyn. This is her first film.

RONEN RUBINSTEIN (SAMMY) is a freshman at the New
York Film Academy, pursuing his Bachelor’s Degree in Acting
for Film. Originally born in Israel, Ronen lives on Staten Island.

JESSE CORDASCO (PATRICK) is a freshman at Brooklyn
College and lives in Bergen Beach, Brooklyn. He is a member
of the Brooklyn rap collective Pro Era formed by Joey Bada$$.
He performs under the stage name Nyck Caution.

NICOLAS ROSEN (DEVON) is a rapper from Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn. This is his first film.

CASE PRIME (NATE) is a seventh grader and started his performing
career at age 8 as a dancer. It Felt Like Love is his
feature film debut. Case is thrilled to be at the Sundance Film
Festival, where he can combine his love of film with his other
passion — skiing

Director's Notes

With It Felt Like Love I wanted to show outtakes from childhood:
the lonely moments, the surges of false confidence,
and small humiliating details that are often buried in our
memories. I have always been fascinated with the portrayal of
coming-of-age themes in film, as a process of disillusionment.
I am also very interested in filmmakers that take a radical,
unsentimental approach to sex and sexual awakening within
this genre, like Maurice Pialat and Catherine Breillat. My work
similarly emphasizes the transitional moments for young
women, characters that are highly underrepresented in film. I
investigate emotional taboos, internalized feelings like humiliation,
self-deception, desperation and shame. The discomfort
involved with watching my characters navigate the world not
only reflects the truth of our experience but connects audiences
to something deep inside themselves.
Visually, my work experiments with a subjective, more poetic
form of realism, where the world resists an objective perspective
and instead hews to the character’s perception of the
events. Resisting the conventions of verite, I use slow motion
and prefer close-ups. Conversely, the wides I chose create an
emotional release. It Felt Like Love has very little dialogue and
explicit story exposition, and instead uses charged images,
details, music and sound design to create a hyper-subjective
and immersive cinema experience.